We’ve begged, DMed, and demanded, and the moment is finally here. Pickl has arrived in Abu Dhabi and the self-described “simple, not basic” burger joint opened its doors at Mamsha Al Saadiyat in November. As expected, it’s bringing the fire in more ways than one.
Pickl is one of our favourite places to tuck into whenever we visit Time Out Market Dubai, and everything it does is packed with serious swagger. There’s no wonder it’s become one of Dubai’s best-known home-grown burger brand in just a few short years. They don’t call it comeback sauce for nothing.
Can you handle the heat? When it comes to the city’s best sandwiches, the Nashville chicken sando is impossible to beat – it meets and then exceeds the hype.
This spicy challenge isn’t for the faint hearted (and there’s no shame in ordering the less spicy chicken sandos, they too are delicious) but if you can handle the Nashville, the flavour is unbeatable.
We spoke to Steve Flawith, founder and CEO of Pickl, to find out what goes into this fiery dish.
Pro tip: Don’t touch your eyes without washing your hands after eating it. We learned that the hard way.
The hype
“If you can handle it, our Nashville level is incredible. It’s more than just a spice level, it’s a process of cooking. After we fry the chicken, we dip it in a spiced oil mix, then apply a dry shake of the spice again. The blend uses several ground chilies. Your taste buds pick up different spices and flavours along the way.”
The chicken
“We use the best ingredients; our chicken is fresh, hormone free, and antibiotic free. Everything is trimmed and prepped by hand, and we cook it fresh to order.”
The comeback sauce
“When you have the juicy crunch of the chicken with the intense spices coming through, the comeback sauce is a creamy smokey compliment that rounds off the sando.” (Getting hungry?)
The pickles
“We make our own food from our own recipes, and it’s no different with the pickles. We make ours slightly tarter to compliment the chicken and the comeback sauce. Our cucumbers are locally sourced and we make them in brining batches every few days. These are real, homemade pickles.”
How to prepare your taste buds for the spice
If you’re not a veteran spicy food enthusiast, the Nashville sando can be intimidating. But we have the secret formula for getting it right and enjoying it the first time.
“Still to this day I love to teach people how to eat Nashville chicken. Your best bet is to kick off with some chicken tenders (which we serve with dill pickles and comeback sauce) and some plain fries. Tear off a piece of chicken, grab a couple of salty starchy fries, add a dill pickle, and dunk the whole thing in the comeback sauce. This gives you the full rounded experience with all the flavour profiles.”
Hungry for more good stuff? Check out Time Out’s guide on where to eat in Mamsha Al Saadiyat.
